story10385.xml

story10385.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-01-28

I managed a night shift marketing concern for American Express who had offices at the world trade center. I was required to be at work at 10 am. My clock was set for 9am. The first thing I heard was that an aircraft had hit the first tower. As a person with a commercial pilot's rating I thought finally some idiot has finally done it, flown a small aircraft into one of the towers. Having flown for years around the area up and down the Hudson corridor at a required altitude several hudred feet below the World Trade Towers , I remember with pride looking up to see these beautiful constructions as I proudly took friends and loved ones past that site. As a pilot safey is the primary consideration.
The rules are simple. Do not bend metal and above all else even under dire conditions... never never ever bend people.
Three minutes later I instantly watched live on TV hundreds die. A split second later my TV went dead. I did not have cable. I knew what had transpired. For 4 days I couod not contact those I love.
My TV went black. I saw hundreds die instantly in an act that went against every thing my life stood for. I knew then that it was a terrorist situation. As a pilot I knew people that had died flying in the past, but this was different. I had employees ,friends and friends of family that worked a primary job at the Towers. MY best friends pregnant daughter was in building #7. Another employee was MIA for two weeks. We thought she might be dead. I will not metnion the countless others I knew that worked there.
I was so mad I went to work saying these bastards will not change the way I conduct my day. When I got to work near an airport I walked in the door to find people gathered around a cable TV in the the lower level health club weeping saying that the first tower had fallen,moments later the second one fell.
Eventually the company sent us all home. No business could be conducted as every client was asking our employees what was going on. They eventually sent us home.I was one of the last that went. As a child terrorism from the Mideast had impacted my family. We were told that there would be no negotiation with such individuals in the event that one of us were kidnapped. It made me feel worthless and angry .
One of my fathers business partner's grandson was abducted and an ear sent in the mail as proof as the terrorists' sincerety. We were frightened but filled with resolve that we would not give one dammed inch against those who would attempt to adjust our way of life.
I left work and went to the nearest hospital to give blood in the vain hope that some had lived.
The next day I climbed the hill in my town to watch th fires burn and the plume of smoke rise to 2-3000 feet and create an anvil an that height and drift slightly to the east, knowing that poeple where still dying. It was a strangly surreal day. From the top of my mountain flew a flag. Flowers were placed in the highest elevation marker.
People with newborn children in thier backpacks handed binoculars to those who arrived to watch. Echos of children laughing and unanware, playing climbing the mountain glanced off the hillside.
My cell phone did not work except for execpt for long distance. I call a friend in the midwest and asked him to pray for us.
For the next year there were funerals every day. For a YEAR. Three years later I can begin to talk about it. The impact im my life exists to this day. I believe that the rest of the US has forgotten and gone on. I will never forget those fathers and firefighters, those employees and business partners that I miss to this very day. Yes it is years later. I have taken friends to ground zero under the requirement that they promise me that they will do something nurturing and loving for themselves to offset the damage that will be done by the visit. I miss everyday those who sacrificed health and security and hope that I do not give in to those that would do us harm.